2006-02-13

When doing panoramic photography with a conventional camera, multiple, slightly-overlapping shots of the overall scene are taken by pivoting the camera in steps, and the images are joined to make a single large-scope image. In order to be able to properly join the images, we must avoid parallax shift between them. To do so, the camera must be pivoted about the camera's center of perspective, which turns out to be the center of the entrance pupil of the lens.

I finally found a good and easy to understand article about rotating (pan and tilt) the camera for panoramic photography. Many guides talk about "nodal point", and they are usually dismissed as being misguided, yet no accurate explanation is given. Sometimes somebody mentions "entrance pupil" as a side note, but offers no explanation as to what it really is.

A recommended read for all.

And btw, I have finally made one panorama available from vacation: Cueva de los Verdes in Lanzarote. It has two rows, with 12 shots each, taken on my home-brew panoramic mount on a ballhead and tripod.